In this episode of Liberty + Leadership, TFAS professor Anne Bradley guest hosts a conversation with Emma Camp, senior editor of The Wall Street Journal’s “Free Expression” newsletter and a 2025 Robert Novak Fellow.

Anne and Emma begin with Emma’s viral video celebrating the “humble American supermarket” and what its shelves can teach us about economic freedom. They look at how global trade, competition and technological innovation produce an extraordinary variety of choices that can be easy to take for granted. The conversation then turns to why Emma believes there is a need for a more optimistic case for capitalism.

They examine why capitalism is often blamed for problems created or worsened by government intervention, including housing shortages and rising costs, as well as rent control, state-run grocery stores, the tradeoffs behind expansive government programs and the “fixed pie” mentality that treats economic gains as a zero-sum contest.

Emma also reflects on her own intellectual journey toward free-market ideas, her effort to make basic economic concepts accessible to younger audiences and how her TFAS Robert Novak Fellowship helped give her the time and freedom to work on her forthcoming book, “No Hard Feelings.”

The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.

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In this episode of Liberty + Leadership, Roger Ream sits down with Michael Lucchese, a 2022 TFAS alumnus and editor of the new collection "Russell Kirk on America: How to Understand the Legacy of 1776."

Roger and Michael explore Russell Kirk’s distinctive understanding of the American founding and his belief that the Revolution was not a radical break with the past, but an effort to preserve inherited rights, self-government and the accumulated wisdom of Western civilization. They discuss Kirk’s idea of a “revolution not made but prevented,” the influence of history and tradition on the founders and the importance of liberty, order, prudence and what Kirk called the “permanent things.”

The conversation also examines Kirk’s writings on figures including John Adams and Ronald Reagan, his belief in the importance of literature and poetry to the conservative tradition and the intellectual community he built at his home in Mecosta, Michigan. Lucchese also reflects on the influence of Whittaker Chambers, his own experience as a TFAS Public Policy Fellow and why the ideas of Kirk and Chambers remain relevant to a new generation.

The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.

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In this episode of Liberty + Leadership, Roger Ream sits down with Robert Whaples, professor of economics at Wake Forest University and longtime teacher with the Foundation for Teaching Economics, TFAS’s high school division. They explore what economic history can teach us about the way we live today, from the dramatic decline of the American workweek to rising productivity and improvements in living standards. Whaples explains why studying economic history remains essential, how economic growth has given people more leisure and opportunity, and why looking to the past can help us better understand the changes still to come.

The conversation also turns to artificial intelligence and technological change, public choice economics, falling fertility rates and Whaples’s approach to teaching economics as a practical way of understanding the world. He also reflects on his personal journey of faith and why he begins and ends each semester with a brief prayer for his students and the work they will undertake together.

Throughout the episode, Whaples makes the case for understanding economics in the context of history, emphasizing that even in an increasingly abundant world, scarcity, tradeoffs, incentives and human choice remain at the heart of economic life.

The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.

Support the show